News
Turkish FM: Return of vessels by Israel basic step
Roni Sofer
Published: 23.07.10, 20:54
Comment Comment
Print comment Print comment
Back to article
53 Talkbacks for this article
1. CONFISCATE THE BOATS!!
sandgroper   (07.23.10)
Why is israel so good to its enemies? Make them pay ...keep the boats.
2. Will Bibi, Ehud and Yvette visit Turkey?
Ilan ,   Ariel   (07.23.10)
They may wan to go an retrieve their balls and backbones.
3. The Turks have made their point: Get us out of NATO and...
Jehudah Ben-Israel ,   Qatzrin, Israel   (07.23.10)
...don't accept us into the European Union. We, the Turks, prefer to be part of the Iran-Syria-Hizballah-Hamas-NorthKorean axis and this is how the world must view us!!!
4. After Israel demanded ?
Nora Tel Aviv   (07.23.10)
Demanding is not enough. Did Israel get a positive response from Turkey ? That should be the criteria to free the boats.
5. The political echelon in Jerusalem.
Terry ,   Eilat - Israel   (07.23.10)
This is an euphemism. They couldn't say the spineless, good-for-nothing, political hacks who seem willing to kiss anyone's tuchas rather than play hardball. That's why they say ''political echelon'' ...... But we all know what it really means. Now let me guess, who could have supported such a weasely response? Ehud Barak comes immediately to mind. Can you imagine the wishful thinking involved in this decision? Right, Turkey's Islamic gov't. - an ally of Iran & Syria - a Hamas supporter - will be favourably disposed towards us if we give back the boats that THEY filled with terrorists to cause us trouble. Now that makes lots of sense.
6. what's the point? turks want to be enemies.
dante ,   uk   (07.23.10)
returning the ships is going to persuade the turks that Israel is a friend? is that what it's supposed to do? it is perfectly obvious that the turkish gov't have gone out of their way to fabricate excuses for enmity; they don't want good relations.
7. No wonder everybody in the world chooses to provoke Israel
DS   (07.23.10)
No wonder everybody in the world that's frustrated or wants some attention chooses to provoke Israel. Israel is the perfect enemy. There are never any sanction for attacking Israel. You can never loose anything in the long run. You don't even have to make any sense. Turkey denies any connection to the flotilla. The boats were not under Turkish flag. Turkey cannot make any legal claims for the boats, but they still get them all. And they're are not investigated for the flotilla's violence. Neither do the attackers.
8. russian apcs
alexi   (07.23.10)
everything barak touches turns to no good Just like olmert who was an utter millitary failure, barak touched lebanon and it was a disaster, likewise he covered himself in the gaza war in case israel losses were high. He offers concessions in return for nothing. Now he appeases the russians who are up to mischief in providing the apcs to the plo who will use them against israel. Barak is an utter failure and overrated military man.
9. Bibi's weak answer to Turk's attacks
RayS ,   USA   (07.23.10)
The PM encourages further anti-Israel Turkish acts by slavish reactions. What disgusting behavior. Instead of "self hating Jews" do we now have a "self hating suicidal state"??
10. Impound:Israeli wounded ,no compensation.
Roland Seener ,   London England   (07.23.10)
11. Pirates Still Holding the Ships?!
David ,   USA   (07.23.10)
The pirates of the Mediterranean are releasing the pirated ships, but they are still besieging and holding hostage the people of Gaza, who were mostly ethnically-cleansed in 1948. Free Gaza, Free Palestine, End Occupation, Peace of ALL!
12. Issue Notice: Any new boats will be unloaded, sunk, and made
Bunnie Meyer ,   Los Angeles, CA USA   (07.23.10)
into a artificial reef for fishing. No more flotilas after the first reef.
13. #3 You are wrong, the second man in the NATO is a Turk and
(07.23.10)
Turkish forces are playing very important role in Bosnia, Afghanistan and in open seas. Only last week a Turk has been promoted as the second most powerful person after the secretary general of the NATO. As for the EU, majority of Turks are against Turkey's membership to the EU. EU is a dying club, has no competitive power and it's trying to save itself from collapse. Turks no longer need the EU.
14. turks dont want to be enemies
ahmet ,   Turkey   (07.23.10)
I think Turks don't want to be enemies with Israel. Turkish people don't hate anybody. They dont disrespect any people in general. A lot of powerful jewish descent people live in Turkey. The rulers of country don't have enemies either but they care about country's interests. They still have interest in good relations with Israel. When Turkey becomes more powerful then you should be careful not to be enemy of Turkey.
15. Spare the rod & spoil the child-hit them in the wallet
Ozraeli ,   Australia   (07.23.10)
What bothers me the most is the apparent lack of Israeli knowledge of "How the diplo-economic game is played", & the resulting negative consequences & blind alleys that Israel has to go down before learning. Beyond the immediate & obvious loss of Israeli political credibility; increasing foreign activist willingness to provoke confrontations; & seeming addiction to absorbing political pressure (which pushes it further into self defeating corners), there seems to be no knowledge of how to EFFECTIVELY PREVENT these ridiculous spectacles without diplomatic pleading, submission to international agendas, &/or military action. By confiscating, selling, or (preferably) sinking the ships once captured-NO QUESTIONS ASKED-you can bring many more political & economic actors into the pro Israel equation. How & why? Every one of these ships have Marine Insurance, Public Liability, Third Party Indemnity Cover, Freight Insurance, etc. If they didn't, no port would accept them, no crew could board, no freight would be loaded. Every time a ship is sunk, misused for an "Act of War", confiscated as a "Prize of War", etc, the loss created is transferred to the multi national insurance carriers. The potential losses & replacement costs are staggering-literally 10's of millions of dollars per ship. BTW-not to mention the Personal Injury & economic loss involved if people are hurt & are unisured-as a consequence... of their own actions. At the very least, it causes a huge direct loss to (say) the IHH, or whatever government (Iran?) funded it indirectly. Ocean going ships& crews are not cheap, even when using "Flags of convenience" & 3rd world crewmen. Who will say: * "No, you won't use this ship for anti Israel blockade running, or it will not be insured", or; * "We will not cover your other business", or; * "We will "load" your premiums by 150%"? Economic interests & Marine Insurers! Who will lobby governments to prevent these spectacles? Economic interests & Marine Insurers! * Who took the loss when terrorists started hijacking airplanes in the 1970's? Insurers & airplane leasing companies. * Who took the loss when Raful led paratroopers into Beirut & blew up 13 Arab airline passenger jets? Insurers, airplane leasing companies, & Arab governments. * Who insisted on hardened pilot compartments, air marshals, & strengthened passenger screening? Insurers, airplane leasing companies, & governments. All this is VERY clearly defined in the Laws of the Sea, Conventions, etc. You want "International Law"? Take that. "Money talks-BS walks". Let the Insurer's lawyers sort it out with the ship owners. After a few $100 million dollars of property losses, let's see who provides ships to run the blockade... Take the offensive-hit them in the wallet! Clean, neat, & smart. And, BTW, those 9 "martyrs" were a VERY effective deterrent for aspiring future "political activists". Play the game right.
16. Israel demands boats will not take part in future sails
observer   (07.23.10)
don't worry, Turkish Navy to Escort Future Gaza Flotillas.
17. Return us empty ships We will fill them &send again to Gazza
Tayfun_Turkey ,   Istanbul   (07.23.10)
18. ... to kill as many as possible ?
Charles ,   Petach Tikva   (07.23.10)
if it was so , there would'nt be ANY living one on the Marmara anymore
19. Returning stolen property a brand new consept 4 israel
ezra   (07.23.10)
20. #14
Omri ,   Israel   (07.23.10)
MOST turks think israel is acting evil latley and some of them also hate israel in general. Edogan had hated israel from the very beggining and he had obviesly thought this thou and decided on being enemies. If turkey was doing this for real humanitarian reasons you would have sent those ships to africa not gaza. That shows this is all self interests and Erdogan wants iran over israel. in history turks and jews had nothing special good or bad, there where bad and there where good... nothing special. For instance the ww1 ottoman general in the middle east was a german jew. On the other hand the ottoman empire forced jews to enlist and to the lowest jobs in the army there are.
21. #18
Omri ,   Israel   (07.23.10)
They arnt really looking for logic... Doesnt take much thinking to know a torpido/huge shell have been used if thats the case.
22. #16
Omri ,   Israel   (07.23.10)
Wouldnt bet on it, after all that will very on the good part end up with turkey forced out of nato and on the bad part it will end in war. Dont think Erdogan is so stupid, he knows exactly whats going on in gaza and if spend so much offort on humanitarian reasons he would just go to africa. All he is doing is getting more support from the muslim world. Note: The turkish military is alot more pro-israel then Erdogan and that may be a problem in taking mlitary action against israel.
23. #22 being in NATO is not liability for turkey
observer   (07.23.10)
The NATO secretary-general has advised the EU to "take a series of pragmatic steps to improve relations with Turkey, entirely outside the negotiations" between Ankara and Brussels over Turkey's membership to the bloc.
24. 'A basic step' that Israel's enemies aren't big enough to ma
Lee ,   Manchester UK   (07.23.10)
ke. Israel you are saved by your morals - your immoral enemies look how they live - look how their lives are - islam is their penance under fetters while you prosper and thrive with life.
25. @ 14 Ahmet
Sheik Rattle & Roll ,   USA   (07.23.10)
Turkey should open it's eyes. Hamas and Hezbollah supported by Iran is a terrorist organization no matter what. Hamas and Hezbollah is responsible for more suicide bombings than any other terrorist organization in the world. Even Al Quada has learned from them. How can Turkey a modern society dare align itself with such barbaric repressive thinking scum of the earth.
26. the army should auction the boats
(07.23.10)
27. observer
avi ,   haifa   (07.23.10)
even a turkish naval escort is no match for the israeli air force
28. Omri, forgive #23, just got confused again
better observer   (07.24.10)
#23 just ran away from the psychiatric ward after having a copious turkey dinner and thinks that turkey's parents are chasing her now this is understandable, it happened to her before, no need to get alarmed and reply to her
29. #13 - You Are Correct. Turkey Supports the West
Doug ,   Rochester, USA   (07.24.10)
Turkey has been there for the US and for other NATO members. They have pad the price of being a NATO member by supplying their own forces and have taken their share of casualties for Wester-supported military actions. Israel, by contrast, is a leach. They suck $3Billion+ out of the US annually, have been armed by the US, have made the US enemies, due to our unrelenting support. The US has not contibuted a single troop to any of the US supported actions. However, many of these actions would not have been necessary had it not been for our blind support of Israel.
30. #23
Omri ,   Israel   (07.24.10)
Nato arnt going to get brought to a war by turkey that they dont want to fight. Nato is rather anti-iran and turkey is rather pro-iran so if turkey would come to be in a war to serve iran's interests dont be so sure they will not give turkey the boot.
Next talkbacks
Back to article